As an employer, there are inevitably some external factors that affect your business every now and then that are out of your control. For example, if you’re running a building or construction company then you’re often reliant on weather. It’s the same for seasonal shops such as ice cream parlours by the coast. If the weather takes a bad turn, especially for an extended period of time, this can damage your business.

Similarly, when an employee unexpectedly takes a sick day you need to efficiently run your business with fewer workers. If it’s a virus or sickness bug, you could even end up having more than one member of staff absent. For when this eventuality occurs, manager’s often put in place a contingency plan of who should cover another person’s role whilst they are ill. This can result in your staff being overworked or stretched to their maximum capacity, which can have a poor effect on your business and employees.

Instead of planning for when it happens, why not plan to prevent it happening at all? In 2017 it was reported than sickness absence was down from the year before, from 2.3% to 2.2%. Whilst this is a very small decrease, it’s still encouraging. It shows that business owners are taking the right steps to ensure they have a happy and healthy workforce.

Keeping your workers motivated and happy to come into work every day can be extremely difficult but it’s important to discourage sick days whenever they can be prevented. There are many ways you can keep your staff healthy, such as:

1. Encourage an active lifestyle – a lot of companies encourage their employees to keep fit by giving them discounted gym memberships. If you’re operating a small business and are unable to offer this, then why not suggest a cycle-to-work scheme? Fitness is important for staying healthy and maintaining a strong immune system.
2. Clean up the work environment – a clean workplace is paramount, this isn’t just about tidiness and cleanliness of the space, but also even when it comes to the air we breathe! Ensuring your workers are breathing in the cleaner air by installing a ventilation system is likely to help you in the long run, with less illness being caused by poor indoor air pollution.
3. Decorate the office – have plenty of green plants and cheery décor around the office to keep everyone in a positive, happy mood. Not only are they attractive but they also reduce sickness by the way of cleaning up the air, reducing stress and even reduce noise levels.

Based on the statistics from 2017, it’s clear to see that many employers are thinking of ways to decrease sickness days. By taking steps to evaluate your businesses attitude to sickness absences, you are not only helping your employees but also benefitting your company in the long run.